Sep 1819
Thursday 2
At home--lay in the Hay--went Filberding with dear
Drum, Granny & Luce--read
the British Critic & Burnet's History
of his own Times--missed my own dear Mossy more & more.
Friday 3
At home--worked my shirt--dressed
my flowers (only my little basket)--read Burnet's History & Peter’s Letters to
his Kinfolk. Missed my own darling very much indeed.
Saturday 4
At home--Heard from Mr. Haydon & Eliza
Webb--finished my shirt--read Peter’s Letters to his Kinfolk very good--Missed my own sainted
Mossy very much indeed.
Sunday 5
At home--finished Peter’s Letters--wrote to Mrs. Hofland & Miss James--walked with Drum & the pets--missed my own dear Mossy more than ever, sweet saint.
Monday 6
Tuesday 7
Wednesday 8
Thursday 9
At home--dined at Farley Hill--came home soon in the evening--a very pleasant
day--read a Number of the New Monthly
Magazine.
Friday 10
At home--sat in my hay--worked at Lucy's
shirt--copied some of Wordsworth's
Poetry from Peter's Letters
&c--& read Percival--a stupid old Novel.
Missed my own dear Mossy very much indeed
all day.
Saturday 11
Sunday 12
At home--sat in my hay--read the Edinburgh
Review & Hans Egede Saabye's
Journal in Greenland--Mrs. Dickinson called--walked with dear
Drum & the pets--wrote to
Sir William--missed my own dear
sainted Mossy more & more every
day.
Monday 13
At home--
sate
sat
in my hay--worked Lucy's shirt--fed my Bobbies--read
Miss Edgeworth's Harrington.
Tuesday 14 Sept.
Wednesday 15
At home--finished Lucy's shirt--read Nicholls's Illustrations of the
Literary History of the last Century
--very
amusing--Missed my own beloved Mossy very
much indeed.
Thursday 16
At home--dressed my flowers--finished my letter to Sir William--walked with dear Drum--read Mr.
Nicholls's Literary History
Vol 3rd. Missed my own dear Mossy more
than ever.
Friday 17
At home--went to the Music Meeting
very tired indeed though the music was said to be good--came home to dinner--read the Quarterly Review & wrote another
half sheet to Sir William Elford.
Saturday 18
At home--Heard from Sir William--lay in my hay--worked at my shirt--fed my bobbies--read the
Quarterly Review--missed my own beloved Mossy very much indeed.
Sunday 19
At home--went filberding & cobnutting
Regional name for the nuts of the hazel.
with Drum--Mr. Green
called & was very pleasant--walked down the lane with Drum & the pets--Molly
put up a partridge & Marmy caught it. Saw a most beautiful butterfly in the grounds--missed my own dear
Mossy very much indeed.Monday 20
Tuesday 21
At home--expected Mrs. Raggett all day who never came though I
gave up Reading Fair & an
engagement at Dr. Valpy's to see
her--walked with dear Granny.
Wednesday 22
Thursday 23
At home--Heard from Miss James--read the
shipwreck of a French ship the Medusa--horrible. Mrs. Raggett & Mrs. Greenwell dined & slept with us--a
pleasant day.
Friday 24
At home--heard from Miss Webb--went into Reading with Mama
Mrs. Raggett & Mrs. Greenwell--made calls & shopped.
Mrs. R. gave me a very pretty
gown--came home to dinner--they
slept here--another pleasant day.
Saturday 25
At home--Mrs. Raggett & Mrs. Greenwell went home--Mrs. Greenwell a very pleasant woman &
very like Sir William Elford
--walked
in the garden with Granny & Slops.
Sunday 26
Monday 27
At home--wrote to Miss James to send with a hare tomorrow & began a letter to Sir William-- read the Quarterly
Review.
Tuesday 28
At home all day--could not go to
Reading for the rain--played with
Slops--read the Pilgrim of the Cross--missed my own dear saint
Mossy very much indeed sweet
Angel.
Wednesday 29
Thursday 30
At home--wrote to Mr. Johnson--heard from Mrs. Raggett & Mrs. Greenwell--walked with dear Granny & Slops--read the Miser
Married--a clever thing.
Gloss of Names Mentioned
Nature
filbert
- species: Corylus maximayes: Corylus maximafalse: Corylus maxima
- genus: Corylusyes: Corylusfalse: Corylus
- family: Betulaceaeyes: Betulaceaefalse: Betulaceae
Deciduous nut-bearing tree in the birch family, native to southeastern Europe and
southwestern Asia, related to the common hazel. The fruit, also called filberts, are produced by catkins, with the ripe nuts largely enclosed in a tubular husk,
and harvested in the autumn. Filberts are elongated and the kernel is edible. Mitford employs an alternative spelling, referring to these nuts as filberds, and distinguishing them from the cobnut, or nut of the common hazel.
hay
Mixed grasses or other herbaceous plants largely grown and harvested as animal fodder.
In Britain, farms traditionally maintained ecologically diverse hay meadows of grasses
and wildflowers, mown to provide horse fodder.
flower
Flowering plants, whether domesticated or wild.
robin redbreast
- species: Erithacus rubeculayes: Erithacus rubeculafalse: Erithacus rubecula
- genus: Erithacusyes: Erithacusfalse: Erithacus
- family: Muscicapidaeyes: Muscicapidaefalse: Muscicapidae
- yes: European robin false: European robin
- yes: bobbie false: bobbie
Small songbird, native to Europe, now considered a type of Old World flycatcher. In
Mitford's time, believed to be part of the thrush family, along with nightingales.
Not to be confused with the American robin, a new World thrush, this bird is sometimes
referred to as an English robin in North America. Frequently referenced in British folk tales and popular culture,
the bird became associated with the Christmas holiday in the mid-nineteenth century.
The bird's name derives from the male forename Robin or Robert, which led to nicknames
of Bob and Bobby. Robins in Great Britain are generally less wary of humans than their counterparts
in continental Europe. Mitford calls the tame robins she feeds her bobbies.
hazel
- species: Corylus avellanayes: Corylus avellanafalse: Corylus avellana
- genus: Corylusyes: Corylusfalse: Corylus
- family: Betulaceaeyes: Betulaceaefalse: Betulaceae
- yes: common hazel false: common hazel
Deciduous nut-bearing tree in the birch family, native to Europe and western Asia.
The fruit, called hazelnuts or cobnuts, are produced by male and female catkins, with the ripe nuts partially enclosed in
a husk and harvested in the late summer. Hazelnuts are round and the kernel edible
and may be eaten fresh or dried. Mitford employs the term cobnut and distinguishes it from the filberd. The shrubby trees form an important component of hedgerows, particularly in the
English lowlands. The trees may also be managed by coppicing, a practice that produces
the thin, curved poles traditionally used in making withy and wattle fencing, in wattle-and-daub
building, and in framing coracle boats.
grey partridge
- family: Phasianidaeyes: Phasianidaefalse: Phasianidae
- genus: perdixyes: perdixfalse: perdix
- species: Perdix perdixyes: Perdix perdixfalse: Perdix perdix
- yes: English partridge false: English partridge
- yes: Hungarian partridge false: Hungarian partridge
Medium-sized plump grey game bird, smaller than a pheasant and larger than a quail.
Native to Eurasia and the UK; has naturalized throughout North America. A nonmigratory
bird that breeds on farmland, it is currently threatened in the UK, while populations
remain healthy elsewhere.
butterfly
Insect of the order Lepidoptera with two pairs of large wings that are covered with
tiny scales, usually brightly colored, and typically held erect when at rest.
apple tree
- species: Malus domesticayes: Malus domesticafalse: Malus domestica
- genus: Malusyes: Malusfalse: Malus
- family: Rosaceaeyes: Rosaceaefalse: Rosaceae
Deciduous tree producing showy pink and white flowers and then firm round pomes, usually
red and yellow-green fruit. Cultivated varieties developed from wild trees in Central
Asia, and have likely been domesticated for at least four thousand years. Before the
invention of refrigeration, the fruit was important for its ability to be dried, to
overwinter in cold storage and to produce fermented cider. While the apple appears
in many mythological and religious traditions as a mystical or forbidden object, as
in the forbidden Edenic fruit in the Old Testament, the term generally referred to
any edible or non-native fruit, and did not necessarily indicate fruits of the genus
Malus. There are currently more than 7,000 apple cultivars and the University of Reading,
in Berkshire, is responsible for the UK national apple database. Mitford mentions at least three varieties: golden rennet or Golden Reinette also known as the English pippin, a golden-yellow apple, streaked red-orange; russetting types, apples whose smooth skin is covered all or in part by rougher brown skin,
thought to have more nutty and aromatic flavors than non-russeting types and used
in cider making; and a crumplingtype; an underdeveloped or deformed apple that shrivels on the tree.
dove
- species: Columbidaeyes: Columbidaefalse: Columbidae
- genus: Streptopeliayes: Streptopeliafalse: Streptopelia
- family: Columbidaeyes: Columbidaefalse: Columbidae
During the 19th century, four types of doves and pigeons were found in Britain: the
stock dove, the rock dove, or feral species of the domestic pigeon, and the turtle dove, as well as the wood pigeon. Domesticated pigeons such as carrier, homing, and racing pigeons are species of
the rock dove. In Britain, the wood pigeon is hunted as a game bird and domesticated pigeons were also used as food. In the
ancient world, doves were associated with goddesses of love, sexuality, and maternity,
such as Inanna Ishtar and Aphrodite. Doves carry symbolic significance in both the
Old and New Testaments of the Hebrew Bible: in Genesis in the story of Noah and the
ark as a symbol of peace and deliverance, in the Song of Songs as a term of endearment,
and in Matthew as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Doves were also acceptable burnt offerings
and came to symbolize peace in early Christianity. Later literary and artistic references
often draw on this association of white doves with peace, deliverance, and spiritual
gifts, and are representations of the rock dove, which is highly variable in color,
ranging from white to shades of grey and pale brown.
brown hare
- species: Lepus europaeusyes: Lepus europaeusfalse: Lepus europaeus
- genus: Lepusyes: Lepusfalse: Lepus
- family: Leporidaeyes: Leporidaefalse: Leporidae
- yes: European hare false: European hare
Hares and jackrabbits are wild members of the rabbit family. Brown hares are small,
furry mammals with golden brown fur with white underbellies and tails and black-tipped
ears. They have longer ears and more powerful legs than European rabbits and live
alone or in pairs, rather than in groups. Thought to be introduced into Britain from
Eurasia with the Romans or earlier.
Places
Publications
The Eclectic Review
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Monthly periodical published between 1805 and 1868. Focusesd on long and short reviews and topical review essays. Founded by Dissenters and operated as a non-profit; all profits were donated to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Followed a nonsectarian editorial policy with an intellectual tone modeled on 18th-century periodicals but advanced reviewing toward critical analysis and away from quotation and summary. Coverage included American as well as British literature, and other subjects and titles of general interest. Influential editors included co-founder Daniel Parken (until 1813), Josiah Conder (1813-1836), Thomas Price (1837-1855).
British Critic, A New Review
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Conservative periodical with High Church editorial views. Published monthly between 1792 and 1825 and then quarterly until 1843. Succeeded by the English Review in 1853. Edited until 1811 by Thomas Fanshaw Middleton. Also edited by William R. Lyall (1816-17); Archibald M. Campbell (about 1823-1833); James S. Boone (1833-1837); Samuel R. Maitland (1837-38); John Henry Newman (1838-1841); and Thomas Mozley (1841-43).
Bishop Burnet's History of his Own Time
- Author:
- Date:
Full title: Bishop Burnet's History of his Own Time from the restoration of King Charles II to the conclusion of the treaty of peace at Utrecht, in the reign of Queen Anne. To which is prefixed, a summary recapitualtion of affairs in Church and State, from King James I to the restoration in the year 1660, together with the author's life.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk
- Author:
- Date:
1819 Saturday 4 September
1819
Mitford rated it very good. In journal entry Saturday 4 September 1819 .
Raymond
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Author and date unidentified.
Soldier Boy
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Author and date unidentified.
New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
1821 to 1830
Periodical edited by Thomas Campbell and Cyrus Redding from 1821 to 1830, after it was restyled with a more literary and less political focus than it had had at its founding in 1814 as a Tory competitor to the Whig Monthly Magazine. Talfourd and Mitford were contributors.
Percival: or, Nature Vindicated: a Novel.
- Author:
- Date:
Mitford called it a stupid old Novel. Source: Journal.
Edinburgh Review, second series
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Quarterly political and literary review founded by Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, Henry Brougham, and Francis Horner in 1802 and published by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh. It supported Whig and reformist politics and opposed its Tory and conservative rival, The Quarterly Review. Ceased publication in 1929.
Greenland: being extracts from a journal kept in that country in the years 1770 to 1778
- Author:
- Date:
Full title: Greenland: being extracts from a journal kept in that country in the years 1770 to 1778: to which is prefixed, an introduction; containing some accounts of the manners of the Greenlanders, and of the mission in Greenland.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
Remarks on Scepticism
- Author:
- Date:
Full title: Remarks on Scepticism especially as it is connected with the subjects of organization and life. Being an answer to the views of M. Bichat, Sir T.C. Morgan, and Mr. Lawrence upon those points.
Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century
- Author:
- Date:
Full title: Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, Consisting of Authentic Memoirs and Original Letters of Eminent Persons; and Intended as a Sequel to The Literary Anecdotes . Three volumes had been published by the time Mitford read it. Mitford rated it variously as very amusing and amusing enough, perhaps referring to different volumes.
Quarterly Review
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
1809 1809 until 1824 1825 from 1826 through 1853
Tory periodical founded by George Canning in 1809, published by John Murray. William Gifford edited the Quarterly Review from its founding in 1809 until 1824, was succeeded briefly by John Taylor Coleridge in 1825, until John Gibson Lockhart took over as editor from 1826 through 1853. Archived at Romantic Circles, Quarterly Review Archive
A Voyage up the Persian Gulf, and a Journey Overland from India to England, in 1817
- Author: #Heude_Wm
- Date:
Letters from the Continent
- Author: #Ormsby_James
- Date:
Full title: Letters from the Continent During the Months of October, November, and December, 1818: Including a Visit to Aix-la-Chapelle, and the Left Bank of the Rhine.
Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816
- Author:
- Date:
Full title: Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816; Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. To Which are Subjoined Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia. Mitford rated it horrible.
The Pilgrim of the Cross
- Author:
- Date:
4 vols. Full title: The Pilgrim of the Cross: or, the Chronicles of Christabelle de Mowbray; an Ancient Legend.
Branford
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Author and date unidentified. Mitford rated it pretty good.
The Miser Married: A Novel
- Author:
- Date:
3 volumes. Mitford rated it a clever thing.
Persons, Personas, and Characters
George Mitford
- George Mitford Esq.
- George Midford
- Hexham, Northumberland, England
- Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England
Father of Mary Rusell Mitford, George Mitford was the son of Francis Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. The family name is sometimes recorded as Midford. Immediate family called him by nicknames including Drum, Tod, and Dodo. He was a member of a minor branch of the Mitfords of Mitford Castle in Northumberland.
Although later sources would suggest that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh
medical school, there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree and he did
not generally refer to himself as Dr. Mitford, preferring to style himself Esq.. In 1784, he is listed in a Hampshire directory as surgeon (medicine) of Alresford. His father and grandfather worked as apothecary-surgeons and it seems likely that
he served a medical apprenticeship with family members.
He married Mary Russell on October 17, 1785 at New Alresford, Hampshire. On the marriage allegation papers, both gave their addresses as Old Alresford; they later came to live
at Broad Street in New Alresford. Their only child to live to adulthood,
Mary Russell Mitford, was born two years
later on December 16, 1787 at New
Alresford, Hampshire. He assisted Mitford's literary career by representing her interests in London and elsewhere with theater
owners and publishers. He was active in Whig politics and later served as a local
magistrate. He coursed greyhounds with his friend James Webb.
Mitford Russell Mary
- Mrs. Mitford
- Ashe, Hampshire, England
- Three Mile Cross, parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England
Mary Russell was the youngest child of
the Rev. Dr. Richard Russell and
his second wife, Mary Dicker; she was born about 1750 in Ashe, Hampshire. (Her
birth date is as yet unverified; period sources indicate that she was ten years
older than her husband George, born in 1760.) Through the Russells, she was a
distant relation of the Dukes of Bedford (sixth creation, 1694). She had two
siblings, Charles William and Frances; both predeceased her and their parents,
which resulted in Mary Russell inheriting
her family’s entire estate upon her mother’s death in 1785. Her father’s rectory in Ashe was only a
short distance from Steventon, and so she was acquainted
with the young Jane Austen. She married
George Mitford or Midford on October 17, 1785 at New Alresford,
Hampshire. On the marriage allegation papers, both gave their
addresses as Old Alresford. Their only daughter,
Mary Russell Mitford, was born two years
later on December 16, 1787 at New
Alresford, Hampshire. Mary
Russell died on January 2, 1830 at
Three Mile Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
Berkshire. Her obituary in the 1830
New
Monthly Magazine gives New Year’s day as the date of her death.
Lucy Sweetser Hill
- Hill Sweatser Lucy
- Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford
household who, on 7 August 1820 married
Charles Hill. She is the basis for
the title character in the Our Village story. Source:
Needham Papers,
Reading Central Library.
Mossy
Mitford’s dog; He died on Saturday, August 21, 1819 at Bertram
House. Mossy was a nickname for Moss Trooper.
Gilbert Burnet
- Burnet Gilbert
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Clerkenwell, London, England
17th-century Whig clergyman and scholar who became Bishop of Salisbury and advisor
to William III. Mitford read his Bishop Burnet's History of his Own Time.
Haydon Benjamin Robert
- Plymouth, England
- London
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the
Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary,
historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by
financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and
painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas
Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
1817, and Sir William Elford was a
mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent
British Romantic literary figures. He completed
The Raising of Lazarus in
1823
. He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of
which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846.
George Paston's
Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth
Century (1893) contends that Mitford was
asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but
declined.
Eliza Webb
- Webb Elizabeth Eliza
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
- Sandgate, Kent, England
Elizabeth Webb, called Eliza, was a neighbor and friend of Mary Russell Mitford. Eliza Webb was the youngest daughter of James Webb and Jane Elizabeth
Ogbourn. She was baptized privately on March 3, 1797, and publicly on June 8, 1797 in
Wokingham, Berkshire. She is the sister of Mary Elizabeth and Jane Eleanor
Webb. In 1837 she married Henry Walters, Esq., in Wokingham, Berkshire. In
Needham’s papers, he
notes from the Berkshire Directorythat she lived on
Broad street, presumably in Wokingham. Source: See
Needham’s letter to Roberts on November
27, 1953
.
Barbara Wreaks Hofland
- Hofland Wreaks Barbara
- Yorkshire, England
- Richmond-on-Thames
Novelist and writer of children’s books popular in England and
America, Barbara Hofland was a native of Sheffield,
Yorkshire, where she published poems from July 1794 in the local
newspaper, The Sheffield Iris. Her first
marriage to Thomas Bradshawe Hoole left her widowed and in
poverty, raising a son, Frederic, on her own, and she supported herself by
publishing poems and children’s books, and by running a girl’s school in
Harrogate. second marriage was to the artist
Thomas Christopher Hofland. (Source:
ODNB)
Elizabeth James
- Elizabeth Mary James
- Miss James
- Bath, Somerset, England
- 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey, England
Close friend and correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Webb and Susanna Haycock. Her father
died in 1818 and her mother in 1835. After her parents’ deaths, she lived with
her two younger sisters, Emily and Susan, in Green Park Buildings, Bath,
Walcot, Somerset; High Street, Mortlake, Surrey; and 3 Pembroke Villas,
Richmond, Surrey. According to Coles,
referring to Mitford’s diary, letters were also addressed to her at Bellevue,
Lower Road, Richmond (Coles 26). She was buried at St. Mary Magdalene, Richmond,
Surrey. In the 1841 census, she is listed as living on independent means; in the 1851
census, as landholder; in the 1861 census, she as railway
shareholder.
Molly
Mitford's dog, whom she describes in a letter of 1820-11-27 as a pretty little Spaniel with long curling hair--so white & delicate & ladylike.
Ariosto
- Ludovico Arisoto
- Reggio Emilia, Italy
- Ferrara, Italy
Poet, courtier, and diplomat; Author of the epic
Orlando Furioso (1516), a sequel to Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando innamorato,
written in ottava rima.
William Wordsworth
- Wordsworth William
- Cockermouth, Cumberland, England
- Rydal Mount, near Amberside, Cumberland, England
First-generation poet of the Romantic era, Lake Poet and friend of fellow poet Coleridge, who co-authored Lyrical Ballads with him and to whom his major poem The Prelude was originally addressed. Poet Laureate from 1843-1850, succeeding his sometime friend
and fellow Lake Poet Robert Southey in that role.
Hans Egede Saabye
- Saabye Hans Egede
- Strynø, Denmark
- Udby, Denmark
Parish priest in Denmark and missionary to Greenland. Mitford read an English tranlation
of his Greenland.
Mrs. Dickinson
- Catherine Allingham Dickinson
- Middlesex, England
- St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England
Catherine Allingham was the daughter of Thomas Allingham. She married Charles Dickinson
on August 2, 1807 at St. Giles, South Mimms, Middlesex. They lived in Swallowfield, where their daughter Frances was born, and where they were visited by the Mitford family. According to Mitford, Catherine Dickinson was fond of match-making among her friends
and acquaintances. (See
Mitford's February 8th, 1821 letter to Elford
. Her husband Charles died in 1827, when her daughter was seven. Source: L'Estrange).
Sir William Elford
- Elford William Sir baronet Recorder for Plymouth Recorder for Totnes Member of Parliament
- Kingsbridge, Devon, England
- Totnes, Devon, England
According to L’Estrange, Sir William was first a friend of
Mitford’s father, and
Mitford met him for the first time in the
spring of 1810 when he was a widower nearing the
age of 64. They carried on a lively correspondence until his death
in 1837.
Elford worked as a banker at Plymouth Bank (Elford, Tingcombe and Purchase)
in Plymouth, Devon, from its
founding in 1782. He was elected a member of
Parliament for Plymouth as a
supporter of the government and Tory William
Pitt, and served from 1796 to 1806. After his election defeat
in Plymouth in 1806, he was elected member of Parliament for Rye and served
from July 1807 until his resignation in July 1808. For his service in
Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, he was made a baronet in 1800. After his
son Jonathan came of age, he tried to
secure a stable government post for him but never succeeded. Mayor of
Plymouth in 1796 and Recorder for Plymouth from 1797 to 1833, he was also
Recorder for Totnes from 1832 to 1834. Sir William served as an officer in
the South Devon militia from 1788, eventually attaining the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel; the unit saw active service in Ireland during the Peninsular Wars. Sir
William was a talented amateur painter in oils and watercolors
who exhibited at the Royal Society from 1774 to 1837; he
exhibited still lifes and portraits but preferred landscapes. He was elected
to the Royal Society Academy in 1790. He was also a
talented amateur naturalist and was elected to the Royal Linnaean
Society in 1790; late in life, he published his findings on an
alternative to yeast.
He
married his first wife, Mary Davies
of Plympton, on January 20, 1776 and they had
one son, Jonathan, and two daughters,
Grace Chard and Elizabeth. After the death of his
first wife, he married Elizabeth Hall
Walrond, widow of Lieutenant-Colonel Maine Swete
Walrond of the Coldstream Guards.
His
only son Jonathan died in 1823, leaving him without an heir.
Maria Edgeworth
- Edgeworth Maria
- Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England
- Engleworthstown, Longford, Ireland
British author and educator. Best known for
Castle Rackrent (1800); also
wrote children's novels and educational treatises.
Thomas Rennell
- Rennell Thomas
- Winchester, England
- Winchester, England
Mitford read his Remarks on Scepticism. According to the title page, in 1819 he was Vicar of Kensington, and Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge..
Mr. Green
- Green Mr.
Local man who visited the Mitfords at Bertram House and dined at Three Mile Cross. Forename unknown. Dates unknown. Unlikely to be the same person as the actor Mr. Green.
Allaway George
Manservant at Bertram House in 1819; dismissed on September 15, 1820, when the Mitfords moved to Three Mile Cross, a much smaller establishment. He and his brother Frank buried Mossy. Dates unknown.
Mrs. Raggett
- Raggett Mrs.
Spouse of Mrs. Raggett. In Mitford's Journal in 1819, she indicates that Mrs. Raggett is her cousin, who offers her the position of companion, but she refuses to leave her father George. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.
Dr. Richard Valpy
- Valpy Richard Doctor of Divinity
- Dr. Valpy
- St. John’s, Jersey, Channel Islands
- Reading, Berkshire, England
Richard Valpy (the fourth of that name) was the eldest son of Richard Valpy
[III] and Catherine Chevalier. He was a friend and literary mentor to
Mary Russell Mitford. He matriculated at
Pembroke College, Oxford University on April 1, 1773, aged eighteen, as a
Morley scholar. He received from Oxford a B.A. (1776), M.A. (1784), B.D.
& D.D. (1792). He took orders in the Church of England in 1777. Richard
Valpy served as Second Master at Bury School, Bury, Huntindonshire from 1771
to 1781, and was also collated to the rectory of Stradishall, Suffolk, in
1787. He became the Headmaster at Reading School, Reading, Berkshire, in
1781 and served until 1830, at which time he turned the Headmastership over
to his youngest son Francis E. J. Valpy and continued in semi-retirement
until his death in 1836. During his tenure as Headmaster of Reading Grammar School for boys over
the course of fifty years, he expanded the boarding school and added new
buildings. He is the author of numerous published works, including Greek and
Latin textbooks, sermons, volumes of poetry, and adaptations of plays such
as Shakespeare’s King John and Sheridan’s The Critic. His Elements of
Greek Grammar, Elements of Latin Grammar,,Greek
Delectus and Latin Delectus, printed and published by
his son A. J. Valpy, were all much
used as school texts throughout the nineteenth century. Valpy’s students
performed his own adaptations of Greek, Latin, and English plays for the
triennial visitations and the play receipts went to charitable
organizations. Valpy enlisted Mitford to write reviews of the productions
for the Reading Mercury. In 1803, his
adaptation of Shakespeare’s King John was performed at Covent Garden
Theatre.
Richard Valpy was married twice and had twelve children, eleven of whom
lived to adulthood. His first wife was Martha
Cornelia de Cartaret; Richard and Martha were married about
1778 and they had one daughter, Martha Cartaretta Cornelia.
His first wife Martha died about 1780 and he
married Mary Benwell of Caversham, Oxfordshire on May 30, 1782. Together they had six sons and
five daughters and ten of their eleven children survived to adulthood.
Richard Valpy and Mary Benwell’s sons were Richard Valpy (the
fifth of that name), Abraham John
Valpy, called John; Gabriel Valpy,
Anthony Blagrove Valpy; and Francis Edward
Jackson Valpy. His daughters were Mary Ann Catherine Valpy; Sarah
Frances Valpy, called Frances or Fanny; Catherine Elizabeth Blanch Valpy;
Penelope Arabella Valpy; and
Elizabeth Charlotte Valpy, who died as an
infant.
Richard Valpy died on March 28,
1836 in Reading,
Berkshire, and is buried in All Souls cemetery, Kensal
Green, London. Dr. Valpy’s students placed a marble bust of him
in St. Lawrence’s church, Reading, Berkshire, after his
death. John Opie painted Dr. Valpy’s portrait. See .Mary Webb
- Webb Mary Elizabeth
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Close friend and frequent correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. Mary Webb was the daughter of James Webb. and Jane Elizabeth Ogbourn. Baptized on
April 15, 1796 in Wokingham, Berkshire. Sister of
Elizabeth (called Eliza) and Jane
Eleanor Webb and niece of the elder Mary Webb,
Aunt Mary. In
Needham’s papers, he
notes from the Berkshire Directorythat she lived on
Broad street, presumably in Wokingham, Berkshire. She
was the wife of Thomas Hawkins as she is referred to thus in probate
papers of 1858 regarding the wills of her sister Eliza Webb Walter and her
husband Henry Walter. Date of death unknown. Dates unknown.
James Wilmot Ormsby
- Ormsby James Wilmot
- Ireland
Mitford read his Letters from the Continent. According to the title page, he was M.A. [and] Chaplain to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Rector of
Castlecromer. Dates uncertain.
Mrs. Greenwell
- Greenwell Mrs.
Friend and visitor of the Mitfords, frequently associated with Mrs. Raggett. Lived in Reading. In the Journal, Mitford calls her a very pleasant woman. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.
Slops
May be a Mitford family pet.
James Webb
- Webb James
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Prominent manufacturer in the
Wokinghambrewing industry, and community leader in
Wokingham and the county of Berkshire. Father of Eliza, Jane, and Mary Webb. Francis Needham
suggested that he was the original of the gentleman in the
Our Villagesketch Aunt Martha. Sources:
Francis Needham, Letter to
William Roberts, 16 June 1953
.
Needham Papers, Reading Central Library
.
John Johnson
- Johnson John Mr.
- the Junius of Marlow
- Timothy Trueman
Friend who leaves his collection of political books to Northmore upon his death in 1821. Mitford helps his
sister, Miss Johnson, sort out the
books that are part of the estate, according to her letter of 1 July 1821. Lived at Seymour Court near Great Marlow before his death. Mitford reports meeting Mr. Johnson and Mr. Northmore for the first time in March 1819 in a letter to Elford. She describes him as one of those
delightful old men that render age so charming--mild playful kind &
wise--talking just as Isaac Walton would
have talked if we were to [have] gone out fishing with him.
The Gentleman’s
Magazine obituary lists his full name as John Johnson, esq. and gives his
date of death as 5 April 1821. See Obituary; with Anecdotes of Remarkable
Persons. Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Review 91.1 (1821): [Died] April
5 . . . John Johnson, esq. of Seymour-court, near Great Marlow, a celebrated
member of the Hampden Club, and author of various political letters, &c.,
under the signature of Timothy Trueman (381). The Monthly Repository of
Theology and General Literature 16 (1821), lists the same death date and notes
that he was author of various political letters and essays in Mr. B. Flower’s
Political Register and other periodical works, under the signature of Timothy
Trueman
(314).